[mythtv-users] Opinions on Solid State Drives for Myth ???

Jarod Wilson jarod at wilsonet.com
Wed Jul 28 03:33:04 UTC 2010


On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 10:53 PM, Christopher Kerr
<mythtv at theseekerr.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 11:01 AM, Jarod Wilson <jarod at wilsonet.com> wrote:
>>> If your laptop needs more storage than SSD's can affordably offer,
>>> have a look at the Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid drives. Not as fast as a
>>> proper SSD, but it ought to speed up boot times a fair bit.
>>
>> Saw at least one review that said the hybrid drive wasn't any faster
>> than a much cheaper 7200rpm 2.5" conventional Seagate drive. I did
>> consider one of those.
>
> Quite comprehensive Anandtech coverage here:
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd
> - basically it's good for boot times, plus load times of a few
> selected applications. Hopeless for random read/write. I'm seriously
> considering one for my laptop, because it takes an age to boot, but I
> don't do anything particularly disk intensive once it's up and going.

My laptops all properly suspend and resume these days, so boot time is
usually of little consequence. Except for the part where I keep
throwing random "IR subsystem improvements of the day" kernel builds
at the thinkpad...

>> My solution for that last one is to simply not use Firefox. :)
>
> I have about 5 extensions that I just can't do without, although the
> list is getting shorter. I'd use Chrome if only the interface were a
> bit more flexible - basically, I want fullscreen mode but with the
> Tabs bar always visible. I can do that in Firefox, but not in Chrome,
> and certainly not in Opera.

I find Chrome's ui minimal enough that maximized on a 1680x1050 screen
(my thinkpad) is good enough. I spend more time in terminal windows
anyway. ;)

>> I *would* love to get a mac mini server, replace the two disks in it
>> with a pair of X25-E drives and use that as a workstation in the
>> office though...
>
> You must be chronically short on deskspace ;o)

A bit, yes. I've got three monitors and at least half a dozen machines
in my office, not counting laptops that frequently appear in there
too. :)

> I have a
> one-size-fits-all approach to workstations at the moment - it's less
> than an i5 750? Too slow. More? Too expensive. Keeps things very
> simple!

I just need a box that can power two 24" monitors, one of them having
a mini displayport connection (the other hdmi/dvi), and I ssh into
most of the other machines, so the mini fits the bill nicely (bonus
points because it runs mac os x). Core i5 750 you say? Meh. I do most
actual build stuff on a dual Xeon X5670 box, which has dual X25-M
drives RAID0 striped in it. :)

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=47920

(Its racked down in the lab where I don't have to listen to it).

> I might shut up now, before I clutter up this list even more than usual....

Oh, right, yeah, we're off on a bit of a tanget now, eh? Oh well.

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod at wilsonet.com


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